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Obituaries

Richard Carlson, Naval Architect

Richard Douglas Carlson, a naval architect who had trained race horses and designed sailboats for ocean racing, died of  heart attack on Nov. 24 at the Hamptons Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Southampton following a six-month illness. He was 90 and a resident of Sag Harbor.

Dec 4, 2014
Lewis Zacks, Artist Was 83

Lewis Zacks, a much-admired artist who lived in Springs, died on Nov. 16, a day after his 83rd birthday, at New York Presbyterian Hospital, following complications of a failed surgery.

He was born in Taunton, Mass., the only son of Etta Hoberman and Robert Zacks. At the age of 5, he could draw anything his mother placed in front of him. When he was in middle school, a teacher who thought his talent remarkable gave up her Saturdays to drive him to Providence so that he could study at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Dec 4, 2014
Kenneth Rea, 88

Kenneth Glen Rea of Church Lane in Springs, a World War II veteran of the Navy Seabees who served for 12 years on the executive board of American Legion Post 419 in Amagansett, died on Nov. 25 at Southampton Hospital after a fall in which he suffered a broken hip. He was 88.

Dec 4, 2014
Thomas O. Conklin

Thomas O. Conklin was born and raised at Breeze Hill Farm in Bridgehampton’s Scuttlehole area, and after graduating from high school in 1949 and earning an agriculture degree from Cornell University in 1953, he returned home to join his father and uncle growing potatoes.

Dec 4, 2014
Barbara Rickards

Barbara Gordon Rickards, who lived on Schellinger Road in Amagansett for the last 35 years of her life, died of heart failure at home on Monday. She was 84 and had been in declining health for the past year.

“She enjoyed her family,” said her daughter Liz Pucci of East Hampton. “She enjoyed antiquing and painting — she was a painter.”

Nov 20, 2014
Lewis Zacks

Lewis Zacks, an artist who lived in Springs, died on Sunday at the age of 83. He leaves his wife, the poet Fran Castan, two sons, Stephen and Daniel Zacks, a daughter, Jane Birbara, and their families. A full obituary will appear in a future issue.

Nov 20, 2014
Barbara S. Moore

Barbara S. Moore, who had lived in East Hampton since 2002, died in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28 with her husband, children, and beloved springer spaniel by her side. She was 66 and had ovarian cancer.

Nov 20, 2014
Evelyn Fischer, 95

Evelyn C. Fischer, a longtime resident of Montauk, died peacefully at the Seabury at Fieldhome, an assisted living facility in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., on Oct. 30. She was 95.

Mrs. Fischer was born in the Bronx on Nov. 28, 1918, to Ole and Jenny Christiansen. The family later moved to Pelham, N.Y., where she graduated from Pelham Memorial High School. Prior to getting married, she worked for The New York Times.

Nov 20, 2014
Tom Twomey, Lawyer, Local Leader

Thomas A. Twomey, a lawyer, civic leader, and chairman of the East Hampton Library’s board of trustees, died of a heart attack early Sunday morning after collapsing at his house in East Hampton’s Northwest Woods.

Nov 20, 2014
Frances L. Gaines

Frances L. Gaines, who raised three children in the house on Middle Highway in East Hampton in which her husband, Thomas E. Gaines, had been born, died in her sleep last Thursday following a long illness, her family said. She was 91.

She married Mr. Gaines on June 7, 1947, in Little Rock, Ark. After he graduated from Oklahoma A&M, the couple relocated to East Hampton in the summer of 1949. In 1978, they moved to Dayton Lane in the village, where she had lived ever since. Her husband died in 2012.

Nov 13, 2014
Claire Mahoney-Haeg

Claire Mahoney-Haeg, who lived on Springy Banks Road in East Hampton for 10 years, died at home on Monday. She was 70 and had cancer for three years.

She moved to East Hampton from Centerport in 1999 after her now-husband, Richard Haeg, moved here. They would have celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary on Sunday, but had been together about 16 years, Mr. Haeg said.

Nov 13, 2014
Ruth C. Garraway, 94

Ruth Constance Garraway, who lived in Springs and East Hampton for about 40 years, died on Nov. 4 at the Rutland Healthcare and Rehab Center in Rutland, Vt., where she had moved two years ago. Her daughter Tammy Brown lives in Rutland. Mrs. Garraway was 94.

Nov 13, 2014
Jesse M. Rodriguez Jr

Jesse M. Rodriguez Jr., who worked for 25 years as a custodian and bus driver for the Amagansett School District, died on Friday at Southampton Hospital. He was 82 and had been ill for several months, his family said.

A lifelong Amagansett resident, Mr. Rodriguez enlisted in the Army in 1952 and served in Germany. He married Magdalene Yurkens of Sag Harbor on Sept. 7, 1957. She died before him.

For 20 years the couple owned a home in Key Largo, Fla., where they spent winters. He enjoyed golf, fishing, camping, and spending time with his wife and family.

Nov 13, 2014
Andrew W. Irvine

Andrew W. Irvine, a Vietnam veteran who lived in Sag Harbor for 25 years before moving to Southampton, died on Monday at Good Shepherd Hospice in Port Jefferson. He was 74.

Mr. Irvine had Parkinson’s disease as a result of the Agent Orange he was exposed to while serving in Vietnam, his longtime friend, Joanne Stratton of Sag Harbor, said. He collapsed in his house last week after experiencing a hemorrhagic stroke.

Nov 13, 2014
Karen D’Avanzo

Karen D’Avanzo, who had a doctorate in psychology from Long Island University, worked for Yale University in New Haven and the New School in New York City while also running a private practice and conducting clinical research. Her specialty was children and adolescents. She died on Oct. 23 of complications of Alzheimer’s disease at Southampton Hospital. She was 57.

Nov 13, 2014
Steve Cookingham, 57

Steven Donald Cookingham of Montauk, who was 57, died at Southampton Hospital on Oct. 28 after having a heart attack.

 Mr. Cookingham had lived in Montauk since 1998, pursuing a career as a craftsman, most recently with Montauk Craftsman Inc. He was said to take great pride in his work and to pay meticulous attention to detail.

Nov 6, 2014
Jack Morelli

Jack Morelli, a musician and cook who lived in Amagansett and East Hampton for four decades, died on Saturday at Stony Brook University Hospital of complications from a stroke. He was 61.

Mr. Morelli had worked as a property caretaker and, most recently, as a private chef. “He loved to cook for people,” his daughter, Janae Anderson of Nashville, said.

Nov 6, 2014
John T. Cameron

Word has been received of the death in July of John Thomas Cameron, a summer resident of Sag Harbor since childhood. Mr. Cameron, who also lived in Charleston, S.C., died of a massive heart attack. He was 57.

Nov 6, 2014
Joan Wyckoff

Joan Wyckoff adopted East Hampton as her second and then primary residence as an adult, but was an active and devoted member of the community here whose contributions were felt at the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, the Springs Library, Bay Street Theater, East Hampton Presbyterian Church, and Meals on Wheels.

Ms. Wyckoff, who was 84, died in hospice care on Oct. 25 in Melville after a six-week illness with heart disease. She had lived on Argyle Lane in East Hampton for 35 years and summered in Amagansett for 20 years before that.

Nov 6, 2014
Dorothy Rodriguez, 48

Dorothy May Rodriguez, who was known as Darcy and had worked at many deli counters around East Hampton, died at Southampton Hospital last Thursday. She was 48 and had cancer.

Ms. Rodriguez, who grew up in Amagansett, lived in Springs with her children, Colin, 13, and Katalina, 11. “Her sincerity and ability to connect with anyone who walked through the door was contagious, and so many people will remember starting their day with a smile from Darcy,” her family said.

Nov 6, 2014
Ben Bradlee, Newspaperman

If Ben Bradlee was the archetypal American newspaper editor — brash, gravelly voiced, profane, barrel-chested — he also happened to preside over his paper, The Washington Post, during a golden age of journalism, 1968 to 1991, when reporters’ work never mattered more.

Nov 6, 2014
Catherine M. Reid

Catherine M. Reid, who for many years did the bookkeeping for Reid Brothers auto repair in Sag Harbor, her sons’ business, died at home in Amagansett on Oct. 8. She was 88 and had been under hospice care, her family said.

She was born in Liverpool, England, on Dec. 27, 1925, to Charles J. Reynolds and the former Mary Margaret McNeish, and immigrated as a child to Australia, where her maternal uncles worked aboard ships.

Oct 30, 2014
For Joan M. Wyckoff

Visiting hours for Joan M. Wyckoff of East Hampton, who died on Saturday at the age of 84, will be on Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Nolan and Taylor-Howe Funeral Home at 5 Laurel Avenue in Northport. The service will begin at 3 p.m. that day at the funeral home. An obituary for her will appear in a future issue.

Oct 30, 2014
Samuel A. Meddaugh

Samuel Alan Meddaugh, who was valedictorian of East Hampton High School’s class of 1954 before going on to a career in the fledgling computer industry in the 1960s, died at home in Eagan, Minn., on Oct. 13 of complications from a rare heart disease. He was 78.

Oct 30, 2014
Frances Hickey

Frances Theresa Hickey of East Hampton, who was known as Terry, died at home on Sept. 22 at the age of 66. Friends attributed her death to natural causes.

Oct 30, 2014
John C. Hardy

John C. Hardy, an artist and teacher who lived in SoHo and Springs, died of complications from a stroke at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City on Oct. 10 in the company of Joan Semmel, his companion for the past 21 years. He was 91.

Oct 30, 2014
For Frances Hickey

Word has reached The Star of the death on Sept. 22 of Frances Theresa (Terry) Hickey of East Hampton. She was 66.

A service will be held on Nov. 1 at 3:30 p.m. in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton. A full obituary will appear at a future time.

 

Oct 23, 2014
Aileen Brody

Aileen F. Brody, 81, an East Hampton resident since the 1990s, died on Friday. Her family said she had been ill for a short time.

Music was an important element of Mrs. Brody’s life. She earned a bachelor’s degree in the teaching of piano skills from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, and went on to give piano concerts and private lessons. She passed her love of music to her only child, Martha Brody, and together they performed recitals at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.

Oct 23, 2014
For Asa Peckham

A memorial gathering in honor of Asa G. Peckham, formerly of East Hampton, who died in Tampa, Fla., on Oct. 3, will be held at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett on Nov. 1 at 1 p.m.

Mr. Peckham’s obituary will appear in a future issue. He was 63.

 

Oct 23, 2014
Donald M. Kennedy

Donald M. Kennedy, who survived polio, competed in the Paralympics for many years, and went on to a successful career in law, died at home in Hampton Bays last Thursday. The 81-year-old, who spent summers in Montauk since 1954, had been under a doctor’s care for atrial fibrillation.

Oct 23, 2014